


Finding Rachel

by foggyglitter



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Mystery, No Storm in Arcadia Bay, no time travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-25 03:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12027261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foggyglitter/pseuds/foggyglitter
Summary: Victoria is Blackwell’s overlord. She terrorizes whomever she pleases and is never challenged. That is, until Max Caulfield comes to town and reunites with her long-lost friend Chloe Price. The two launch an investigation into Rachel Amber’s disappearance, and Victoria takes an interest. She helps them unravel the secrets behind Rachel’s mysterious vanishing and makes unlikely friends along the way.*Bonus! No one dies in a horrific storm!*Second Bonus! No time travel to make this story more confusing than it needs to be!*Things that are not included in this story: time travel, the storm, Kate’s suicide attempt, and so much more! Why you ask? Because this is a fun writing exercise and I’m tired of seeing gay teens die! Also, this is set at the beginning of the school year so Chloe doesn’t hate Max for being in Arcadia for a month without visiting her. David’s still in it though. Some things never change.





	Finding Rachel

Rip.  
Victoria crumbled the paper with satisfaction. She rolled the paper ball between her hands while scowling at the board where the poster once hung. Despite the anger and hint of jealousy that had possessed her to tear the poster from its home, she felt a pang of sadness as she stared at the now empty space. Surrounding the spot the poster formerly occupied were several advertisements, someone, she saw, had lost their laptop. Victoria rolled her eyes thinking the old beat up machine the sign pictured wasn’t even worth the search. Directly under the empty space was an ad for the Blackwell swim team. Victoria balked at the very idea of sports; she was much more interested in artistic endeavors. Art took talent; art took time. Sports? Sports took brute force and steroids. Her pursuits were so much more… Delicate. Graceful. But if there had to be a sport’s team advertised on this rotting sign post, swimming was the best choice. The post also held a flyer for the drama club. Auditions were now open for this year’s production of Julius Caesar. Victoria clutched the balled-up poster tightly in her hand. She had never understood her school’s hard on for Shakespeare. Even though Shakespeare wrote many of her favorite works, she had an aversion to most, if not all, theater. After an unfortunate event she hated remembering, Victoria began to loathe the drama club. Not more than the sports teams though. Art, in her book, was always more needed than athletics even if the art was theater. Reminiscing on her hatred of theater pulled Victoria away from her thoughts, she no longer wanted to think of missing laptops, and swim teams, and drama. The crumbled ball of paper clutched in her hand had begun to irritate her. It was as if her skin was burning. She cast one last bitter look at the sign post before walking away, throwing the paper into the nearby trash can.  
The school day went by as it always did. Victoria pretended to understand her physics lesson while an unbearable nerd grinded her gears with his insistence on answering every question in his ever so smug voice. She ate her lunch in Taylor’s dorm while Courtney babbled on endlessly about the trouble she had with her math homework. And she sat attentively in Mr. Jefferson’s class, excitedly answering questions and groaning rather loudly when Mark complimented her newest classmate, some irrelevant hipster who never appeared to be one hundred percent present in class. In fact, she appeared to be in a daze whenever Victoria saw her, and it disgusted her how this unimportant wannabe kept taking all of Mr. Jefferson’s attention with her tragic selfies and faux-deep polaroids.  
Mercifully, the bell rang before the ungrateful mouse could fumble over another question she didn’t know the answer to.  
“Maybe if you did your homework instead of glaring off into space, you’d be able to answer simple questions.” Victoria said to her before sauntering out of the classroom. She spotted Blackwell’s resident religious nut on the way out. She was scribbling something in a notebook, an irritating grin glued to her face.  
“Class is over, Katie. You don’t laze around in here too much. Slothfulness is a sin you know.” Kate’s smile dropped. She met Victoria’s eyes with her standard dear in headlights look.  
She quickly closed her notebook and put it in her bag. “I was just leaving, Victoria.” And with that, she scrambled away.  
Victoria smirked, and continued towards the door before realizing someone was behind her. She turned swiftly, one hand glued to her hip, and saw the pathetic loner herself, unmoving and itching to say something. Victoria glared at her.  
“What is it,” Victoria paused momentarily searching for the girl’s name. “Maxine? Something you wanted to say?”  
She watched as Max gulped, her eyes looking down nervously. “Max.” She choked out feebly.  
Victoria placed a hand to her ear. “What was that, Maxine? You’ll have to speak up.”  
“Max,” the other girl said a little louder. “Never Maxine.”  
Victoria’s glare lessened. “Well, Max,” she said with emphasis. “If you have something to say, say it instead of standing there like a fucking idiot.”  
Max opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.  
“That’s what I thought, speechless just like everyday in class. One day, Mark’ll get tired of it you know. Your shy, hipster act.” Victoria rolled her eyes. “So pathetic.” She shook her head in disappointment and left the classroom.  
Taylor and Courtney were waiting patiently for her in the hallway, Courtney looking deep in thought with her finger in her mouth like a baby and Taylor texting away on her phone visibly distressed. Victoria walked up to them but didn’t stop once she reached them. They followed behind attentively as she stepped confidently through the hallway. She glanced over her shoulder at Courtney, who was still lost in thought and biting her finger absentmindedly.  
“Court, take that damn finger out of your mouth and wipe that dull look off your face before people start to mistake you for our self-absorbed classmate.” She chided sharply.  
Courtney immediately left her daze. “Sorry, Vic. I’m just trying to plan out the guest list for the next Vortex party. You think Maxine would want to go?”  
Taylor looked up from her phone and shook her head at Courtney. “Of course not, why would she even be invited.”  
Courtney shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, I just thought…” She trailed off before regaining her train if thought. “She’s new and doesn’t know many people, and we don’t really know her, and Hayden seems to like her and”  
Taylor cut her off. “Hayden likes anything he can put his dick in. Come on, Courtney. You know Maxine’s not really club material.” She looked expectantly at Victoria. “Right, Vic?”  
“Max.” Victoria said before pushing open the doors to Blackwell Academy. She breathed in the fresh air. Freedom at last.  
“What?” Taylor asked in confusion, before looking down at her phone again as another text came through.  
“Max. Her name is Max. And no. The pretentious bitch isn’t club material.”  
A confused look passed over Courtney’s face as she looked to Taylor for assistance, but she was glued to her phone screen. “Yeah, Vic. You’re right. I won’t add her to the list.” Courtney gulped and added, “Can’t believe I even considered the self-absorbed bitch.”  
Victoria sighed and stretched, taking in the sunlight and new September breeze. “Whatever, Courtney.”  
Taylor’s eyes widened. “I have to go, guys. I’ll see you later tonight.”  
“What’s up?” Victoria said, concern hanging on her voice.  
“Just uh, my mom and… I just need to be alone.” Tears began to well up in her eyes.  
Victoria nodded knowingly. “We’ll talk later, K?”  
Taylor nodded vigorously forcing a smile and scurried away towards the girls’ dormitories.  
“I gotta jet too, Vic. Life of a party planner. But this month’s party is totally gonna slay. Just gotta get this theme down and fix the guest list and find a caterer and… You know the life. And it’s not like you’d want to help with all of that boring stuff anyway right?” Courtney paused, leaving the question open for Victoria to answer.  
“No, I wouldn’t.” she said without looking at Courtney.  
Courtney tried to hide her shock. “Oh, yeah of course not. That would be ridiculous. So I’ll just go and do this and get out of your hair and…”  
Victoria walked away as Courtney trailed off. “Have fun,” she called over her shoulder as she sidled away.  
It was official, Victoria Chase was now friendless for the remainder of the evening. She desperately wished her friend Nathan hadn’t fled the country for summer vacation meaning he’d start school three weeks later than everyone else. Victoria was now given the rare gift of alone time, something she didn’t value nearly as much as she pretended to. Without her friends around her, she felt alone, bored, and unappreciated. Who would she talk shit with? Who would tell her how gorgeous brown hair would look on her even though she’d never dare dye it? Who would struggle through physics homework with her? Victoria was so desperate she even considered talking to Max who was kneeling in front of the school fountain taking pictures with her ancient camera. But she decided against it; she’d had enough of Max’s antics today. She began to idly wander the courtyard in front of the school, glaring at any passersby who appeared to be judging her. Victoria knew what they were thinking. “Look at Victoria Chase. All alone like a lost puppy. How sad.” But she didn’t let her uncertainty show.  
She passed by the bulletin board again. The same posters she’d seen this morning still remained only with a new addition. Or rather, an old addition. That hideous poster was there again. That awful paper she’d ripped down before school. That horrendous thing insisted on staying there. Judging eyes trained on her every move. Victoria ripped the poster down once more and tossed it into the trash. She wiped her hands on her jeans and turned to walk away but was stopped when a voice behind her bellowed.  
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”  
Victoria stopped in her tracks. She knew that voice. She knew that voice and she dreaded it. She dreaded it like she dreaded the judgmental eyes on that poster. She turned around and crossed her arms a defiant look now on her face. “What does it look like I’m doing?” She said, voice unwavering despite the nerves creeping into her stomach.  
The girl who had yelled tossed a strand of blue hair from her face. She looked at the trash can next to Victoria. “It looks like you just took down a missing person’s poster you evil bitch!”  
Victoria didn’t flinch at the insult. “Good, good. I was worried your observation skills had faltered during your time out of school, Price.”  
It was then that a previously distracted Max looked up curiously. Victoria watched as she moved towards the argument, a rather out of character move. She met the blue-haired girl’s eyes, and her face lit up. “Chloe?”  
Chloe’s eyes left Victoria as Max came into view. At first her eyebrows raised in bewilderment, and then a grin filled her face. “Max?” She questioned in astonishment.  
Victoria thought the rest of the moment was rather cute. The girls hugged and Max squealed in that insufferable way she did. They chatted away, completely forgetting about Victoria. Adorable, too bad none of it was genuine. Victoria saw it, the fleeting look of fear that had first crossed Max’s face before she masked it with her forced smile. Victoria knew all about forced smiles. And Chloe, the way her eyes filled with anger when she saw Max. It could have been the rage she was aiming at Victoria, but this felt different. The way her brows narrowed and her nostrils flared when she saw Max. When she was yelling at Victoria, it was simple anger. But the way she glared at Max, it was personal. And the whole time Victoria watched. Watched as they hid their true feelings and embraced one another like old friends. Watched as they grabbed each other’s hands and squealed things like “I haven’t seen you in years!” “Oh my god, you look so different!” “I love your hair!” Victoria could barely stand how unnervingly sweet they were. Like if they just kept complimenting one another, they could distract from what they really wanted to say. She could have fun with this. She plastered on a huge smile to mirror Max’s and began to clap.  
“Brava, brava! Oh congrats on the happy reunion you too! Oh I just love it when friends reunite!” Victoria announced in a painfully cheery voice. “And what a coincidence that I know both of you so well. Well enough to know that you’re both hopelessly tragic hipsters. You have so much in common, it’s like you were made for each other. Except, I’m not sure about your stance on drug users Max. Your old friend’s a pot head. Didn’t you know?”  
Max just stayed still, unsure of what to say. Chloe turned to face Victoria again, the anger now front and center on her face. “Don’t think I forgot about what you did, Victoria.”  
Victoria dropped the character voice. “Of course not, Clo. It wouldn’t be like you to forget all about your high school sweet heart just because this boring bitch came back to town.”  
Chloe opened her mouth to retort but Max jumped in front of her. “You know what, Victoria? You’re the bitch. I saw you take down that Rachel Amber poster this morning. What kind of person doesn’t want a missing girl to be found? Can’t you imagine how distraught her family must be? And you’re taking down something that could lead to her being found? You’re worse than a bitch, Victoria. You’re despicable.”  
Victoria was taken aback. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words never came. Instead Max grabbed Chloe’s hand and pulled her away. Victoria was alone again, and guilt was overtaking her. Their little altercation had garnered a small crowd which now began to disperse. Victoria knew they were all gawking at her, shaking their heads at her inability to win the argument. She couldn’t believe she was called out by Max Caulfield. The quiet newbie no one cared about had not only shocked her, but left her speechless. No one got the last word with Victoria, not now. Not when she practically ruled Blackwell. No one ever challenged her and won. Victoria shot an angry look at the spot where Rachel Amber’s missing poster once hung. She cursed Rachel under her breath and hurried off towards her dorm.


End file.
